It's just as plausible as any other religious story...
We're all God botherers, apparently
- Thread starter Theophany
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It's just as plausible as any other religious story...
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We need some atheist politicians, they are way over due. People that will stand for rationality without hesitation and do it with conviction. Not these liberal fence sitter liars that we have to put up with. I can't take anyone serious who believes in religions, from my perspective if you believe in religion you have no credibility. If I was employing people i would never employ a religious person because i would fear they lack logic and rationality.
Last thing we need is the muppet who calls himself prime minster to claim he believes in imaginary men in the sky.
Last thing we need is the muppet who calls himself prime minster to claim he believes in imaginary men in the sky.
I would much prefer we ditched the GOD thing and went back to the Pagan methods.
More holidays, much much better parties. (no one ever gets naked at a christian bash)
Oh that and the fact religions based on super beings are utter rubbish. (aside from the magical space pixie, she is cool and lives on the edge of our solar system and Alpha Centuri, and likes Tulips)
More holidays, much much better parties. (no one ever gets naked at a christian bash)
Oh that and the fact religions based on super beings are utter rubbish. (aside from the magical space pixie, she is cool and lives on the edge of our solar system and Alpha Centuri, and likes Tulips)
Regardless of the percentage of religious vs secular living in the UK, I do find it interesting how a politician can say something that might hint towards something *mildly religious* about the country and it's inhabitants, the results of which seem to spark an outrage with people saying things like "GET HIM OUT" and "I'LL NEVER VOTE FOR HIM AGAIN"
I'm a pretty staunch atheist personally, but I think people risk alienating themselves by overreacting to something which was said by one or two politicians at Easter, I mean - they're only politicians....
I'm a pretty staunch atheist personally, but I think people risk alienating themselves by overreacting to something which was said by one or two politicians at Easter, I mean - they're only politicians....
Part of it may be that we do not really want to go down the route of having religion play a major part in politics as the examples we have when that does happen tend to be pretty negative.
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I think it is irrelevant what religion politicians follow, as long as they do their jobs properly, they can believe what they want. As much as I enjoy my faith I have to say that it did make me cringe a bit seeing DC making his little evangelistic comments - but then again I also think, good on him for being himself (but can't help feel it was maybe a bit of an empty comment, but perhaps I'm unfortunately a little sceptical? 
)... however, in this day and age I think it would have been wiser (politically) to keep his beliefs private.
I would be no less comfortable having an atheist, agnostic, Jewish or Muslim or any other as a politician or prime minister, as long as they do their job with integrity, and whether or not we agree with the politics or not, irrespective of their religion, I'd expect an honest, law abiding and non corrupt politician.
I guess generally the views of the past would imply that being of faith is more likely to mean you're an honest person, however, of course, you can be the most honest, and morally straight person without an inkling of faith.
Unfortunately too many people forget their faith when losing their temper, being tempted by some lust (either in terms of flesh, power, greed or other) and so on, and repent rather than trying to live a good and honest life from the outset.
)... however, in this day and age I think it would have been wiser (politically) to keep his beliefs private.I would be no less comfortable having an atheist, agnostic, Jewish or Muslim or any other as a politician or prime minister, as long as they do their job with integrity, and whether or not we agree with the politics or not, irrespective of their religion, I'd expect an honest, law abiding and non corrupt politician.
I guess generally the views of the past would imply that being of faith is more likely to mean you're an honest person, however, of course, you can be the most honest, and morally straight person without an inkling of faith.
Unfortunately too many people forget their faith when losing their temper, being tempted by some lust (either in terms of flesh, power, greed or other) and so on, and repent rather than trying to live a good and honest life from the outset.
What in the UK? as this thread is about the UK.
I agree in some respects - I don't feel comfortable at all with the idea that the design of the law could be influenced by religious faith.
But the reality on the ground seems to be a group of people, who immediately load Dawkinator.exe the moment anything even remotely religious gets mentioned by a politician.
It just seems like paranoia to me,
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Just because your ethics and morals come from Christianity doesn't mean you are Christian.
I would say you have to believe in God to be religious and then which faiths rules you choose to follow decides on which religion you belong to.
And also most people are "good" in a Christian sense of the word without doing anything different so they just believe in God to be on the safe side, so they go to Hevean if there is a God and if there isn't it doesn't matter, they didn't have to actually do anything anyway.
I would say you have to believe in God to be religious and then which faiths rules you choose to follow decides on which religion you belong to.
And also most people are "good" in a Christian sense of the word without doing anything different so they just believe in God to be on the safe side, so they go to Hevean if there is a God and if there isn't it doesn't matter, they didn't have to actually do anything anyway.
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Um maybe it's me but I was under the impression that this country's 'main religion' was Church of England which is a Christian derivative and has the current monarch as the head of the church.
That by definition means that while we have a queen/king or whatever this country is technically a Christian country.
As a side note: I don't believe in god, I have my own beliefs which are completely different and I have no issues with people believing/supporting a religion of their choosing. But the one thing that does get on my nerves is when people from the Government or other 'religious groups' try to make out this country is anything but a Christian country... it's like going to somewhere like Dubai and saying it isn't an Islamic country.
That by definition means that while we have a queen/king or whatever this country is technically a Christian country.
As a side note: I don't believe in god, I have my own beliefs which are completely different and I have no issues with people believing/supporting a religion of their choosing. But the one thing that does get on my nerves is when people from the Government or other 'religious groups' try to make out this country is anything but a Christian country... it's like going to somewhere like Dubai and saying it isn't an Islamic country.
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That is a good point and I agree with you. While we have a Monarchy and CoE we are a Christian country.
If we were democratic about it we would also still be a Christain country as most people are Christians and would likely vote as such.
But if it were up to me we would have democracy but then when it came to religion have it dictated to us that we are Atheist. (Because I am). But obviously that's unrealistic.
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I think it is irrelevant what religion politicians follow, as long as they do their jobs properly, they can believe what they want. As much as I enjoy my faith I have to say that it did make me cringe a bit seeing DC making his little evangelistic comments - but then again I also think, good on him for being himself (but can't help feel it was maybe a bit of an empty comment, but perhaps I'm unfortunately a little sceptical?
I would be no less comfortable having an atheist, agnostic, Jewish or Muslim or any other as a politician or prime minister, as long as they do their job with integrity, and whether or not we agree with the politics or not, irrespective of their religion, I'd expect an honest, law abiding and non corrupt politician.
I guess generally the views of the past would imply that being of faith is more likely to mean you're an honest person, however, of course, you can be the most honest, and morally straight person without an inkling of faith.
Unfortunately too many people forget their faith when losing their temper, being tempted by some lust (either in terms of flesh, power, greed or other) and so on, and repent rather than trying to live a good and honest life from the outset.
I agree with you; I don't necessarily want to judge a political leader on their religious beliefs. However, DC has spoken, it seems, for the entire country i.e. on my behalf, which I completely disagree with. Not that this is the first statement that he's ever made with which I disagree, but there's not a thread for every comment he makes
Yes, in the UK. Castiel pointed out that the church were opposed to "the redefinition of marriage" (I think that's how he put it). I'm sure some groups of Christians are thoroughly opposed to same sex marriage, and some are not, but as a religion, Christianity opposes same sex relationships, never mind marriages. The whole "redefinition of marriage" thing, as I saw it, was a poor mask for discriminating upon the grounds of sexuality. This is one element of discrimination that is common in both religions. I have a problem with both, and all, in this country.
I personally, don't think the UK is a Christian country at all - people might say that it is from a historical perspective, we might have some people who wear fancy costumes and sit in big seats, but it feels totally secular to me..
The same cannot be said for Dubai, because they have religious law (sharia law) so you could never claim it's anything other than a religious country, because the law which governs it is religious, that is not the case in the UK.
I completely agree. The west is traditionally 'pagan' and this has changed many things in Christianity including the day people go to church and the way and when we celebrate 'Christian' holidays. Other things include (in Catholicism especially) using religious symbols such as statues of Mary.
I don't think of the UK as a Christian country any more. I, as an atheist believe religion has no part in the running of a country and tbh has no part in modern life.
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I'm not saying that the people in the country are Christian but by a technical standpoint the 'official religion' of this country is Christian due to the Monarch and it's relation to the Church of England (and Scotland). I'll agree it doesn't always feel that way when 'discrimination' is bandied about for other religions/cultures but not Christianity.
It's pretty much the same in Dubai, they have an official religion, ie Islam while still allowing other religions (not all countries are as liberal). I didn't go into the sharia law side of things as you could argue the UK law was based on Christian morality etc in the same way.
You could just as easily say that this country was originally druid/pagan (there are still some 'purists' out there) until it was taken over by the 'christian (im)migrants hundreds of years ago. Hell if people had got their way a few years back Jedi would have been a recognised religion lol
But today, in 2014 - the constitution of the UK is not underwritten by religion, like it is in somewhere like Dubai, in the UK it's argued and designed in a secular fashion.
A large portion of Dubai's constitution is designed around Islamic law, they're an Islamic society, to me it's fundamentally different from the UK because we're a secular society, even if we have some Christian roots, which is why I think it's a poor comparison.